Life of a Third Wheeling Manager
by AoiCherry
Summary: When Matt decided to become Alfred and Arthur's manager, he didn't sign up to become a third wheel as well… (USUK Idol AU)


"Congrats on finishing the first day of your comeback concert!" Matthew congratulated, phone in hand, as he entered Alfred and Arthur's dressing room. "Tickets for tonight's **and** tomorrow's concert sold out in seconds, **plus** you two have been trending ever since we announced your comeback album. This is a great response!" Matthew excitedly shared.

"Seriously?! Artie, Artie our fans still love us!" Alfred beamed as he wrapped Arthur in a tight bear hug.

"Alfred, just because we were on hiatus doesn't mean that our fans would suddenly stop supporting us," Arthur wheezed.

"Yeah yeah, I know, I believe in them," Alfred defended. "But I never knew we'd get this big of a response!"

"Uh, Al, you might wanna let go of Arthur…" Matthew interrupted. "He looks like he's having a bit of trouble breathing."

"Oh right!" Alfred let go of the smaller man, letting Arthur get some air. "Sorry about that, got a little too excited. You okay, Artie?"

Matthew pretended not to notice his brother gently take Arthur's hand, or the fact that he leaned down, closer to the Brit, to the point that their noses were just a couple of centimeters apart… or the fact that Arthur's face was slowly turning bright pink…

With his brother and Arthur acting like a pair of lovebirds right now, poor Matthew tried to pay attention to either his phone, to the costumes hanging in the closet, or even to a far corner of the room; basically anywhere **but** the two men. Alfred looked at Arthur as if he was his whole universe while Arthur, despite being less expressive about his feelings, held a lot of warmth and love for Alfred in his gaze.

Matthew shifted his gaze back to his phone. Now it just felt like he was intruding on a very personal moment. He cleared his throat. "Uh well, I'll be waiting for you two in the car, so just take your time." Saying so, he calmly walked out of the dressing room, closed the door behind him, and then made a beeline to the parking lot.

* * *

 _~ 1 year ago_

 _From the look on Alfred's face, Matthew knew Alfred was a goner as soon as he introduced him to Arthur, his duo partner._

 _"Al, this is Arthur," Matthew introduced, as he placed his hand on Arthur's shoulder. "He was scouted by the company 4 years ago, and has been practicing as a trainee since. I've talked to the higher ups and have seen what Arthur's capable of, and I'm super confident that he'd be the best person for you to debut with."_

 _Arthur held out his hand towards Alfred. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I heard you've been a trainee for around 2 years?"_

 _Matthew tried to suppress his laughter as he watched Alfred go from openly staring at Arthur to realizing that he hadn't taken him up on his handshake yet, and then to quickly grabbing Arthur's outstretched hand with both of his hands and shaking it furiously. Unfortunately, Arthur had no idea yet that Alfred had god-like strength, so when the flustered Alfred enveloped Arthur's hand in both of his and tried to give a handshake, Arthur's whole body shook as his arm was tugged up and down._

 _"Don't kill your duo partner yet Al," Matthew chuckled while Alfred released Arthur's hand and apologized._

 _Matthew knew that the two of them together would make for a powerful unit, and as their manager, it was his job to make sure they succeed. He already knew that Alfred and Arthur would capture the hearts of thousands of fans. What Matthew didn't expect though, was how much of their pining and love-filled gazes he would have to endure during his time as their manager._

 _Matthew was slightly surprised to see Alfred running towards him. He was pretty sure Alfred just finished his first practice session with Arthur a few seconds ago..._

 _Alfred skidded to a stop right in front of Matthew. "He's so good!" Alfred gushed. "His vocals are amazing! Mattie, you said he wasn't too confident in dance, but he could keep up with me. Me! I choreographed that dance too."_

 _Matthew chuckled. "I told you he'd be the perfect partner for you._

 _"He was a trainee for 4 years though. He could've easily gotten a solo debut with his skills," Alfred pointed out. "Do you know why the company held him back?"_

 _"To be honest, I don't really know," Matthew replied. "When I watched his progress videos, I thought for sure that he would be chosen to debut sooner. This is just a guess, but maybe the company wanted Arthur to debut with someone who could match up to him and together, create a balanced unit. Like you are now."_

 _A huge smile spread across Alfred's face. "I seriously can't thank you enough for fighting the higher ups on letting Artie debut with me-"_

 _"Artie? Already on a nickname basis, with him?" Matthew teased._

 _"I always have nicknames for friends," Alfred sputtered. "I call you Mattie."_

 _"I'm your brother," Matthew reminded. "You only call friends by their nicknames after you've known them for a few weeks."_

 _"Yeah, okay, I may be a tiiiiiny bit interested in Artie," Alfred admitted. Alfred took one look at Matthew's smirk and quickly continued, "Can you blame me? His voice is amazing, he can dance well, **and** he looks cute!"_

 _"You were just making fun of his eyebrows this morning-"_

 _"Okay, in my defense, I can't not look at his eyebrows, Mattie."_

 _Matthew snorted. "I'm glad you got along with him though."_

 _"Well…" Alfred drawled. "I don't know if I would say we 'got along' during our practice."_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"I kinda kept trying to crack jokes, have fun, and melt the ice, but I think Artie would rather… not," Alfred explained. "He kept telling me to take the session seriously and if I messed up my parts, he'd make me keep repeating the same part over and over again, and then we'd start again from the beginning-"_

 _"Which is somewhat good," Matthew interrupted. "Doesn't that mean that Arthur's taking you seriously as an idol?"_

 _"Mm, yeeeaaah," Alfred agreed. "Maybe it's only because we just met a couple of days ago…It just felt like he wanted to keep our relationship strictly professional."_

 _"Remember, not everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves like you do, Al," Matthew reminded. "Plus, it's only been one practice session. You'll have plenty of time to bond with him during your career."_

 _"Yeah, and it's not fair that he had to look **that** good while he was serious," Alfred whined and buried his face in his hands. "Our practice went well but- ugh, do you know how hard it was to not openly stare at him? On top of that, I think I messed up too much and pissed him off..."_

 _"Maybe you two should get to know each other better outside of work too-"_

 _"Okay, I've decided!" Alfred announced suddenly, cutting off Matthew. "I'm going to try to be friends with Artie! Operation: Befriend Artie starts now! See ya, Mattie!"_

 _Alfred ran off to find his partner, leaving Matthew behind. The younger brother shrugged and walked back to his office, already starting to think of ways to promote Alfred and Arthur's unit._

 _Matthew would also find out much later, that Alfred wasn't the only one enraptured by Arthur during their practice session; Arthur was just much more subtle with his glances than Alfred was._

 _"Thank you all so much for coming out here and supporting us!" Alfred announced. Using his sleeve, he wiped off the sweat that trailed down the side of his face._

 _"We can't express how delighted we are that you all came out here to share this experience with us," Arthur continued. "We've only been a duo for 6 months, but we have gone through so many positive experiences as well as learning experiences, and for that, we are extremely grateful. It is thanks to all of you that we are able to stand here today and spread our love for music to everyone!"_

 _Alfred started,"Now, I know we've reached the end of our concert..." A wave of "awws" filled the stadium, quickly followed by shouts of "encore!" Alfred laughed enthusiastically. "That's exactly what we wanted to hear! Are you guys ready?"_

 _Loud cheers boomed throughout the stadium, an obvious "Yes!" to Alfred's question. Large smiles spread across both idols' faces as they prepared to sing their encore songs._

 _Even once they finished singing the encore songs and the music died down, Alfred and Arthur were basking in the cheers of their fans. Still high from the concert's adrenaline rush, Arthur turned to Alfred and hooked an arm around the younger man's neck, bringing the two of them closer together._

 _Matthew bet that Alfred was pleasantly surprised. Throughout the past 6 months, he and Arthur had definitely grown closer, but Arthur rarely initiated physical contact. Matthew could tell that it actually meant a lot to Alfred that Arthur was the one who initiated a half-hug in front of their audience._

 _Backstage, Matthew watched the two of them with pride. They had come so far in 6 months; now they're really good friends with a large fanbase. Just after Matthew took his eyes off the two to talk to one of the crew members, a collective gasp broke out among the audience. To Matthew, the loud gasps meant that either Alfred or Arthur was injured, or someone in the audience tried to climb on the stage. When he finally had eyes on the two of them again, Matthew's jaw dropped, along with his tablet._

 _On the large screens, for the whole audience to see, was Alfred with eyes closed and his lips locked on Arthur's. In contrast, the Brit's eyes were initially wide open in surprise. Matthew could spot the second where Arthur contemplated pushing Alfred off, but hesitated. The next moment, Arthur closed his eyes, threw all caution to the wind, and wrapped his arms around Alfred's neck, pulling the American flush against his own chest. **That** received an even louder gasp and a bunch of claps from the audience._

 _Matthew didn't know what to think anymore. "I guess they've moved on from being 'good friends'."_

 _As a manager, friend, and brother, Matthew was honestly scared that Alfred and Arthur would receive backlash from fans after the stunt they pulled. He's heard horror stories on how cruel fans can be when they find out that their favorite idol started dating. Thankfully, most of their fans didn't mind at all that Alfred and Arthur were openly dating. Many fans, to their pleasant surprise, were actually happy for them. Alfred and Arthur were able to continue performing and chugging out new singles. News of their relationship, to Matthew's as well as their company's surprise, actually seemed to boost their popularity instead of tank it. Matthew was having the time of his life seeing the sale numbers as well as social media exposure rise._

 _As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. Matthew now held great power as the manager of A &A, and with that would come the responsibility of him witnessing every single flirtatious comment, touch, and look Alfred and Arthur would give each other._

* * *

Matthew almost puffed out an exasperated sigh… almost .

Being in the driver's seat, he mostly kept his eyes on the road, but of course, there were times when he had to glance at his rear-view mirror...and naturally he just had to see his brother, with both of his arms around Arthur, lean into the smaller man's personal space, attempting a kiss. Arthur, being the more reserved one of the two, slightly turned his head so that Alfred's lips met Arthur's cheek instead. Matthew couldn't see too well in the dark, but he bet his life that the Brit was blushing while trying to squirm out of Alfred's grasp.

Unfortunately for Matthew, that was just one of the many flirting attempts Alfred pulled during their whole car ride back to the hotel. Alfred, being the shamelessly touchy person he is, wouldn't keep his hands off of Arthur.

"Aw, come on Artie," Alfred complained. "Let me love yooouuu."

"We're in the car, Alfred," Arthur whispered.

"So?" Alfred countered. "C'mon, let me have just one kiss. Please?"

A few seconds of silence followed. Matthew already knew Arthur was going to give in. He's seen their interactions enough times to know how Alfred got Arthur's guard down and how Arthur, despite acting like he didn't enjoy Alfred's touchiness, actually found the younger man's actions endearing.

"Mmhm," was all Arthur mumbled.

Matthew can already imagine Alfred beaming with joy. He then heard the smack of Alfred's lips against Arthur's. If Matthew didn't know any better, he would think that Alfred would have stopped after a peck on the lips. Unfortunately, Matthew did know better and he was already bracing himself for whatever his brother was going to do next. Just as he thought, he heard the rustling of clothes followed by the sound of a more...intimate kiss...followed by heavy breathing...

Now, if you asked anyone who knew Matthew well, they'd tell you that he had the patience of a saint; but even that patience can gradually wear thin when Matthew always had front row seats to Alfred "can't keep my hands to myself" Jones and Arthur "sometimes tsun , sometimes dere " Kirkland's relationship ever since their debut.

"Get me out," was all Matthew could think at the moment. He pressed slightly harder on the accelerator, hoping to get to their hotel faster without going past the speed limit.

"Alfred," Arthur whispered, with a hint of both a warning (most likely for Matthew's sake) and want in his voice. Matthew swore he could feel the smugness radiating off of Alfred. Of course, Alfred didn't stop at that; no, he had to go further. Matthew was extremely close to banging his forehead on the steering wheel when he heard the sound of **something** being unzipped.

"I'm **literally** in the driver's seat!"

"Alfred," Arthur spoke, with a little more certainty this time. "Not now."

"Aww," Alfred pouted. This time he did obey and didn't push any further.

"Oh thank God." Matthew prayed that, hopefully, the two would behave for rest of the car ride back… Matthew can only hope.

"I need a vacation," Matthew sighed.

* * *

 **Note: So I was just talking, with one of my good friends, about how Matt would basically be thirdwheeling in a USUK idol AU, and this fic happened LOL**  
 **I hope I was able to convey Matt's pain :'D**


End file.
